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Friday, June 4, 2010

Literary Devices Part 2: Chekhov's Gun

It's seems I'm doing a series on plot twists and literary devices. Check out my first one on the Deus Ex Machina in which I make several false statements which I'll outline on this post. Sorry about the mistake, but I'm learning along the way too.

Anyway, on to Chekhov's Gun. It was so named after Anton Chekhov (no, NOT the guy from Star Trek) the Russian writer, playwright, and physician who once said, "Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress."

Anywho. He did say in a few letters, that "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."

Chekhov's Gun eventually came to mean an object (or person) which seems insignificant or unclear, but later becomes a crucial element of the plot.

So my mistake from the earlier post?

The eagles saving Frodo and Sam at the end of LOTR is more of a Chekhov's gun. They are mentioned earlier a few times in the book but it's unclear how they will take part in the battle of good vs evil.

And in Harry Potter? Fawkes is kind of a Chekhov's gun too. We meet him early on, but he just seems like a fancy, mythical office pet. Actually, HP is filled with Chekhov's guns. The snitch, Mrs. Figgs, the locket...there are more I'm sure, but I can't remember them all!

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comments:

Absolutely! I write mysteries, so this technique is almost my bread and buttet. The trick is to not bury it too deep or making the period of time between introduction and relevance too long so the reader doesn't remember the hint.

I do, now that you mention it. In the very first paragraph, I mention a photo that the mc looks at, then puts in his pocket. Much later, that photo is used to insinuate some nasty things about him. It's not really a plot twist though, more of just another way to twist the thumbscrews.

Hi! Thanks for following :) I've got you linked in my blog roll now, yay!Yes I have a few of them guns in my first chapter and a few have misfired (whoops) but I'm still learning. Mine isn't really an object but a butterfly, not one in particular but what they stand for and how it moves these characters around until the reader figures out how this little thing is changing lives. I know it makes no sense, yet! Recently I read one in Beautiful Creatures (awesome) and it was a locket that was the key to the final, erm sorta, mystery.

One of the things I love about writing is when I figure out that I need that gun, I often discover that I already planted that gun on the mantlepiece without even realizing that I'd need it later. Then all I have to do is pick it up and shoot it. Such fun!

I do have a Chechov's gun in my WIP but after reading this, I'm inspired to go back and see how well it works--and consider how to weave it in even better. Thanks, Lydia! This is really a helpful post.

Great post! I like when things connect and sometimes in writing it may seem unintentional, but your mind knows that you can use that character or prop somewhere else and then AHA!! Oh, the cleverness of me. I stole that line by the way. =-)

I love stories that are structured like this -- circular structure, where you work back around to that inconsequential thing at the beginning that now is the key to the whole thing. Harper Lee used this in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

"Chekhov's gun" is one of my favorite plot devices and have used them often. I am a firm believer in using all that's put out in a story. It makes a tighter story when all is useful knowledge/details and I like those details/etc to have dual use if I can.

I have a few big ones in my WIP Ghost Mountain that have me giddy just thinking about them.

Interesting post. I never thought of it that way either. I always came at that quote from the other direction - which is 'don't put something into your story if you aren't going to use it later'. (i.e. Don't mention the gun if you aren't going to fire it.) Thinking about it now, I do try to leave a few guns lying around to tie back in later. Thanks for showing me another perspective. =o)

Thanks for a great explanation. I do sometimes make mental notes when I'm reading like, "I wonder why that mentioned that, I wonder if it will come up later." And then I always forget to go back and see if they actually used that thing or not.

Hi Lydia, Thank you for stopping by Heather's Odyssey and following. I love your blog! Glad we found each other. As for Chekhov's gun, I'm a firm believer that if something doesn't advance your story or character development in someway, it doesn't belong in the novel! Great post!

I always try to keep Chekov's gun in mind- it's a great tip. My first draft of my first book was littered with stuff that never showed up again (no guns though, not in ancient Egypt). Thankfully, I got them all weeded out.

Not really sure if I have one yet, but I'm sure something will become one eventually. I like it when it's done well - you notice the Gun but don't think much of it, but there's also enough set-up that when it comes into use, you don't feel cheated.

See, the Harry Potter examples are generally good ones. But the eagles in LOTR. That felt more deus ex machina -ish.

Just a suggestion, sometimes if every item with a description has subsequent significance, it threatens to make the plot predictable. From the readers perspective, it is a tricky balance to keep us in the dark w/o letting on about future plot turns.

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